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Method and Apparatus for Identifying a Device Handle in a Computer System

a computer system and device handle technology, applied in the field of computer system configuration, can solve the problems of inability to predict or consistent correspondence between usbTM endpoints and file handle names, software or device drivers cannot tell which file handle to use for communication with a particular endpoint, undesirable affecting the operation of usbTM devices, etc., to achieve the effect of facilitating interaction and facilitating interaction

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-07-08
SIERRA WIRELESS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method and apparatus for identifying a device handle in a computer system. This allows for easy interaction with peripheral devices. The method involves scanning a database for descriptor data entries associated with the desired peripheral device and identifying associated data entries. A second portion of the database is then determined based on the associated data entries and scanned for information indicative of the desired device handle. The desired device handle is then identified based on the information indicative of it. This invention simplifies the process of identifying the desired device handle and makes it easier to develop software for interaction with peripheral devices."

Problems solved by technology

However there may be no predictable or consistent correspondence between USB™ endpoints and the file handle name.
Therefore, software or device drivers cannot tell which file handle to use for communication with a particular endpoint by inspecting the contents of the “ / dev” directory.
However, this approach is cumbersome and can undesirably affect operation of the USB™ devices.
For example, if the USB™ devices or endpoints are not compatible with the trial communication, their operation may be interrupted and have to be restarted, critical memory may be overwritten or destroyed, or other undesirable effects may occur.
Moreover, device restarts may compound the problem as they may affect the device handle associations partway through such a trial and error approach.
In addition, on a given computer system, there is no guarantee that the desired device handle, once discovered, will not change for example due to a re-enumeration event.
This compounds the problem of using a cumbersome method such as a trial and error method for determining which device handle is associated with a particular USB™ device, since such methods must be repeated periodically.
However, while sysfs organizes device information, it remains an essentially passive data repository, which can change over time and may be difficult to interpret.
However, while the udev module operates to dynamically create device files and simultaneously associate them with persistent device names, it does not provide for identifying already created device files.
In addition, udev cannot identify a device unless the user has previously set up identification parameters, which can be time-consuming.
However, these two sets of information may not be closely associated with each other.
Therefore, it is often difficult to determine which communication handle is associated with a particular component device, and which one is to be appropriate for a particular type of communication when the need arises.
An additional problem in the prior art is that, even after device handles are identified, they may subsequently change due to restarting or reconnection of a device.

Method used

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Examples

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example 1

[0092]In an embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for identifying a desired device handle in a Linux™ system, the desired device handle associated with a USB™ wireless modem of a predetermined type. The Linux™ system includes a sysfs file system as described herein. Similar embodiments can be used with other USB™ devices, or non-USB™ devices.

[0093]In the present embodiment, a wireless modem is provided as a peripheral device with a USB™ interface for interaction with the host computer system. This interface provides a number of unidirectional serial interfaces between the USB™ peripheral device and host computer system, in the form of USB™ endpoints. These endpoints are uniquely numbered and the number is significant because it is the identifier that must be used whenever a higher layer protocol wishes to exchange traffic with the modem. Although the type of traffic carried via a particular endpoint may be configurable within the modems, in practice the endpoint ...

example 2

[0105]FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 for identifying a desired device handle associated with a peripheral device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0106]The method 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes the step of providing a database 320, containing encoded therein information associating one or more device handles with one or more peripheral devices. For example, the database can be pre-existing, and provided by facilitating access thereto, for example, the Linux™ sysfs file system can be provided in this manner.

[0107]The method 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 further includes the step of performing a first scan 330, which scans a first portion of the database for one or more descriptor data entries associated with the desired peripheral device.

[0108]The method 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 further includes the step of processing the first scan results 340, thereby determining one or more associated data entries of the database related to the one or more descriptor data ent...

example 3

[0114]FIG. 5 illustrates an apparatus 500 for identifying a desired device handle associated with a desired peripheral device, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The desired peripheral device can be one of several peripheral devices 512, 514, 516, operatively coupled to the apparatus 500 via a device interface 590. The apparatus 500 may, in embodiments of the present invention, also function as a personal computer, communications device or other device, and may contain other elements or configurations. Rather than illustrating the apparatus 500 as a personal computer or other device configured according to the present invention, only aspects immediately relevant to embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in FIG. 5.

[0115]The apparatus 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a database 520 containing encoded therein information associating one or more device handles with one or more peripheral devices.

[0116]The apparatus 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 further incl...

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Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for identifying a desired device handle in a computer system such as a personal computer running Linux™. The desired device handle is capable of facilitating or providing for interaction with a desired peripheral device, such as a USB™ device. The invention comprises providing a database containing information associating device handles with peripheral devices. A first portion of the database is scanned for information associated with the desired peripheral device. This information is used in determining a second portion of the database, which is scanned for information indicative of the desired device handle. The desired device handle is then identified.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 142,577, filed Jan. 5, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention pertains in general to configuration of computer systems and in particular to a method and apparatus for identifying means for communication between elements in a computing system, such as a device handle.BACKGROUND[0003]Many computer systems can be described as a modular collection of interacting hardware and software component devices. Proper operation relies on the ability of such devices to recognize each others' presence and appropriately address communications to an intended target. For example, when a peripheral device is connected to a computer system, it is desirable that the peripheral device and computer system should register each others' presence and take steps to enable communicative coupling between peripheral...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06F17/30G06F3/00
CPCG06F17/30386G06F16/24
Inventor FILER, RODERICK DAVID EARLEFAWCETT, GLENN
Owner SIERRA WIRELESS